To simplify, you could say that Proceco makes big dishwashers to clean spacecraft engines. Among others.
Posted at 11:00 a.m.
One of its systems, equipped with a 2.24 m (88 in) diameter turntable, can thoroughly scrub a space launch engine over 3 m high, rinse it and dry it perfectly. , all in the same compartment. The Montreal-based company, which specializes in parts cleaning systems, is in the process of carving out a significant share, if not the lion’s share, of the market for reusable launchers.
The company claims that over the past two years it has been able to “position itself as the supplier of choice” to the aerospace industry, securing several contracts from members of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation. , which includes companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic.
“Most of them already do business with us or are in the process of applying for it,” says Yoly Ramos, marketing manager at Proceco, who cannot name any in particular for reasons of confidentiality.
“Since October 2021, we have sold four systems, all for launchers, including a turntable cleaning cabinet,” she says.
Over the past ten years, private research into reusable launch systems has experienced a marked acceleration.
“There was a boom”, she says – literally during the test phases strewn with explosions, figuratively since the successful round trips have multiplied.
To be reused, the launchers must be inspected, therefore cleaned.
This is where Proceco comes in.
The simplistic image of the dishwasher
Since its founding in 1975 by engineer Helmut Schauer, Proceco has supplied more than 7,000 parts cleaning and surface treatment systems, including 500 to customers in the aerospace industry.
The company has nearly 75 employees, including a solid team of mechanical and electrical engineers. It manufactures in its Montreal factory modular cleaning systems, the elements of which can be adapted and combined to meet the specific needs of the customer.
Essentially, Proceco’s systems are large boxes, inside which high-pressure cleaning takes place with a solution of water and 3-5% alkaline detergent – hence the image of dishwasher.
A somewhat reductive image…
“The challenge of the different sectors we serve is the size and complexity of the parts,” says Yoly Ramos.
The 16-cylinder head of a locomotive diesel engine, for example…
“A dishwasher does the washing from the outside,” she continues. As soon as there are small holes and nooks, it will be difficult to clean. You really need machines that will reach these very specific places or shapes, which are sometimes very dirty. There is rust, mud, grease…”
Proceco’s systems are primarily assigned to two uses. On the one hand, they are used to clean parts during production, to make them immaculate for the next stage or delivery.
Thus, you can easily obtain at Proceco a device designed specifically to clean your freshly machined railroad wheels, or another that will be dedicated to the scouring of your aircraft turbine components.
The other common function is cleaning parts that have been disassembled for inspection, overhaul or refurbishment.
Proceco, for example, offers a tunnel in which railway bogies roll for thorough cleaning – a kind of car wash.
The landing gears of jumbo jets, up to 3.3 m high, are washed in what looks like a huge safe, equipped with vertically reciprocating nozzles.
We are far from the tea service delicately placed in the dishwasher.
For other applications, particularly in automotive construction, the challenge lies in the efficiency and speed of cleaning small parts and components, to support the production rate.
All these devices are designed and manufactured in Montreal.
Proceco washes whiter
In the aerospace cleaning market, Proceco has almost cleared the way, dare we say.
“We are the first they come to contact,” says Yoly Ramos. Because surprisingly, it is not Proceco that knocks on the door of companies in the sector.
“They are the ones who contact us,” she notes.
Companies around the world have learned that Proceco washes whiter.
“It doesn’t stop. We receive requests from Europe, India, Australia…”
However, Proceco does not want to tarnish its reputation by neglecting after-sales service – one of its great strengths.
“If we’re too far away and if we don’t have a subcontracting company that can do the after-sales work and the service, we prefer to stay in North America. »
Bloom gave birth to barrel vaults
PHOTO ANNIE-CLAUDE BÉDARD, PROVIDED BY BLOOM
Openwork, the barrel vaults of Bloom’s outdoor exhibition pavilions have appeared on Sherbrooke Street West, in Montreal, where they host the series of exhibitions sensitive space.
Bloom’s small outdoor exhibition pavilions continued to bloom this winter. After a first appearance in Deux-Montagnes, during the summer months, Bloom installed its aluminum arches in January on the sidewalks of downtown Montreal, at the corner of Sherbrooke and de la Montagne streets, to accommodate 13 January to March 31 the series of outdoor exhibitions sensitive space. Born in January 2021 from the design and scenography studio Créations Boume, Bloom is now defined as an artistic street furniture and outdoor exhibition furniture company. The small pavilion, designed by its president and artistic director Marie-Ève Bourassa, is its first product. Its arches – more precisely barrel vaults – are made of aluminum strips in which openwork patterns have been cut. They serve as decorative urban elements, pedestrian crossings, and above all as supports for artistic works. Bloom vaults are lit by daylight filtering through their walls, or by a programmable lighting system. Modular, they can be permanently or temporarily installed. They are manufactured in Quebec by subcontracting. “The intention is to expand Bloom’s portfolio of products between art and design,” said Marie-Ève Bourassa by email.
Our vaccine passport application to conquer the world
Akinox’s vaccine passport crosses borders. The firm that developed proof of vaccination verification solutions VaxiCode and VaxiCode Verif, used by the Government of Quebec and merchants for the management of the pandemic, has adapted its applications to offer them on the international market, under the name Vaxvalet. Akinox, which has retained the intellectual property on the processes and technology behind these applications, has derived a vaccine evidence verification model that can be implemented in private companies. Available in 57 countries, including the United States, India and the European Union, where it can comply with local or national requirements, the Vaxvalet platform is able to validate around 50 QR codes worldwide. The company claims that 300 million vaccine proofs are currently compatible with its applications. Akinox was founded in 2010 by Alexander Dahl, who is still its CEO.
Norda Stelo acquires BEAP
The consulting engineering firm Norda Stelo is increasing its assets in asset management. Specialized in particular in the durability and predictability of the maintenance needs of industrial assets – structures, buildings, production equipment – the Quebec firm wants to accelerate its global presence in this segment by acquiring BEAP, a young company in technology and artificial intelligence. BEAP has developed an asset data management platform that Norda Stelo sees as having “tremendous potential”, and on which the engineering firm had already been collaborating for a year and a half. Supported by artificial intelligence, this platform helps to make quick decisions to prevent breakage on static assets that normally generate little data: conveyors, crushers, bridges, tanks, piping networks, etc. This acquisition materializes with the creation of a new division, Norda Stelo Solutions, which will offer asset management tools, of which the BEAP platform will be the first example. Norda Stelo, formerly Roche, was founded in 1963. It was already involved with BEAP in a joint 1.2 million project, supported by Investissement Québec, to predict the failures of a series of static assets in the mining industry. .
1,000,000
A number round like six lentils. The community optician, Le bonhomme à spectacles, passed the one million dollar mark in donations to some 150 community organizations in Quebec. For each pair of glasses sold, the company founded in 2007 by Philippe Rochette donates $10 to an organization, which suggests that it has sold more than 100,000. The company claims not to have increased its prices by basis since 2007.